The Philippines’ trade deficit with the rest of the world widened to $54.2 billion in 2024 from $52.6 billion in 2023 because of the shrinking exports, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed Friday.
Merchandise exports fell 0.5 percent to $73.21 billion in 2024 from $73.62 billion in 2023, while merchandise imports rose 1 percent to $127.43 billion from $126.21 billion.
The PSA said trade deficit in December 2024 reached $4.14 billion, lower than the $4.85-billion shortfall in November.
Export sales in December amounted to $5.66 billion, down by 2.2 percent from $5.78 billion a year ago.
By commodity group, electronic products continued to be the country’s top exports in December with total earnings of $2.80 billion or 49.6 percent of the country’s total exports during the period.
This was followed by other manufactured goods with an export value of $355.36 million (6.3 percent) and coconut oil with $283.56 million (5 percent).
Exports to the United States comprised the highest export value, amounting to $947.77 million; followed by Japan, with $762.19 million; China, $725.76 million; Hong Kong, $614.17 million; and Singapore, $284.53 million.
Meanwhile, the total imported goods in December 2024 amounted to $9.79 billion, representing an annual decrease of 1.7 percent from $9.96 billion in the same month of the previous year.
The highest import value in December 2024 was electronic products, which amounted to $2.11 billion, followed by mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials at $1.37 billion and transport equipment at $956.16 million.
China was the country’s largest supplier of imported goods valued at 2.62 billion; followed by Japan, $881.48 million; Korea, $777.12 million; Indonesia, $727.84 million; and the United States, $644.48 million.
